Centering Community Voice and Knowledge through Participatory Action Research

Abstract

This paper analyzes a Participatory Action Research (PAR) Project focused on improving public safety and community lighting in one Latinx immigrant community in California as a case example to better understand the possibilities for university-community-government partnerships.  The paper explores residents' motivations for their sustained participation in the project, the relationships and power dynamics that led to a $100,000 commitment from the city government to fund the recommendations of the PAR collective, and the social contexts that allowed community residents to position themselves as political actors as the PAR project progressed over the 2021-2022 academic year.  This case example illustrates how including key stakeholders from powerful community institutions in the PAR process not only created opportunities for dialogue and social change that would not have occurred without this collaboration, but also provided critical spaces for the women to develop their stance as political actors in relationship to people in power.